The EDTE.CH blog has a great section entitled Interesting Ways. Here you will find a collection of slideshows that will show you interesting ways in which to use a variety of technology tools in the classroom. Everything from a Nintendo DS or Wii, to Wallwisher and Prezi. Below I have embedded 25 Interesting Ways to use Google Earth in the Classroom. I use Google Earth a lot, so was glad to stumble across these great tips. There will doubtless be something for you here if you are looking for extra inspiration, so check out Tom Barrett's great blog for some new ideas.
 
 
 
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I've mentioned the Utah Education Network on here before, but it was a while ago, and seeing as it crossed my path again the other day, I thought it was worthy of a second mention. The UEN has a great selection of interactive student activities that are great fun to use with your class. They cover a wide variety of topics, and would be  good  to bookmark for future use. Simply click on the subject area to explore the activities that are on offer. The link above is for grades 3-6, but K-2 and 7-12 games are also available. and that makes this resource even more useful.
 
Aviary Education 06/28/2010
 
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 If you are a fan of the Aviary suite of design products, you will be delighted to know that they are launching a new education version specifically for teachers. It guarantees safe images and content for using with students, allows you to create student accounts, and  manage their assignments. At the moment, this is an invitation only beta version, but you can request your own free account by going to the Aviary Education home page. I received my account details this morning, so I am looking forward to trying it out. If you want to be at the head of the line for new accounts, quote code EduTech01 in your beta application for speedier processing.

Once I have had a chance to explore the site in more detail, I will report back with all that the new site offers, but feel free to leave a comment with your own experiences of Aviary products. The education team are keen to receive all feedback on the new education version in order to make it as useful as they can for educators.
 
The Rasterbator 06/24/2010
 
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The Rasterbator allows you to create huge rasterized versions of uploaded pictures which can be up to 20 meters in size. Rasterization is the process of turning graphics into pixels or dots. When you use the Rasterbator it splits your image into several pages that you can piece together to make one giant poster. While this is not the most eco-friendly way of displaying your images, it can still be a great impact way to display one off events that you and your students have captured. Images can be created online, but there is also a standalone download version that removes the 1mb online file size.  You can see the sample I created below using the download version and my desktop wallpaper. The Rasterbator is free to use so spread the word.
 
 
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YouTube has launched its own online video editor. This clever tool allows you to splice together different videos to make a new compilation. While this may not be something that you want to let your students loose on, it could be very useful for teachers who want to merge together various clips from YouTube videos that they use with their class.  The interface is very simple, and instantly recognizable to anyone who has ever used iMovie or Windows Movie Maker. Simply edit the clip by dragging some sliders, and merge your clips on a timeline to create your new video. You can even replace the original audio with a selection of music tracks if you deem it appropriate. A YouTube account is required to access the YouTube video editor.

UPDATE: Thanks to Anne Carnevale for clarifying that this editor can only be used on videos that you have authored yourself.
 
Learn it in 5 06/13/2010
 
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Learn it in 5 is a relatively new site from Mark Barnes that sets out to show educators how to use a variety of web 2.0 technologies in the classroom through free 5 minute video tutorials. So, if you have never used Twitter before with your class, there is a 5 minute video tutorial here for you. Social bookmarking, Nings, and Wikis are just some of the other 5 minute tutorials that you will find here. Even if you know many of these skills, this could be a useful site to share with other staff members in your school.
 
 
If this summer is the time you have set aside for setting goals for the new school year, then why not think about using webquests with your students in the next school year. My recent article on How to Use a Webquest Generator to Make Your Own Webquests will help take the hassle out of creating these from scratch, and will save you time trying to work out all the HTML coding you need. Two of the tools listed are free, but two you need to pay a subscription fee for.
 
 
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The free Photovisi online collage maker may be just what you need to present and display photos from class projects, field trips, or school events, and it couldn't be easier to use. Start be selecting one of the 21 collage templates on offer, upload your pictures, and then save your completed image for download or print. The resulting image is a JPEG, so could easily be used again in photo editing programs to add text or other clipart images. Its not hard to see that this could be a genuinely useful tool for tech-savy teachers. More information can be found on the Photovisi website.
 
Play and Learn 06/07/2010
 
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Maria Andersen has created a great looking one stop resource for finding educational games to support learning. Simply click on the subject area of your choice, and you can choose from several sub categories. Each contains a link to another site that is intended to make learning fun. Try it for yourself and see what you can find. Everything from Astronomy to Music is covered so you should have no trouble finding something that is relevant to your class. Play and Learn was last modified 5 days ago, so hopefully it will be updated on a regular basis to provide some year round resources for teachers to use.
 
 
Well, my school is out for the summer, so I finally got around to giving this blog the makeover I had always promised it. If you are reading this on an RSS feed, then you may not notice the difference, but other visitors will hopefully appreciate the change. Everything is still pretty much where it always was, but the new color scheme and header was something I had thought about for a while.

Speaking of things that I had been meaning to do for a while, I was asked to be a guest writer for the Canadian blog, Kiwi Commons last month. You can check out the article here if you are interested. They wanted a teacher's perspective on the changing nature of technology in the classroom, so that is what they got! If you have not visited Kiwi Commons before, your should go and check out their internet safety resources for parents and teachers.